Church gives power to the children

The Church yesterday launched a Children's Council, made up of children, who will pass on their views to the newly set up Church's Children's Commission.

Children's voices rebounded off the walls of otherwise empty corridors at St Monica School yesterday as they surrounded Archbishop Paul Cremona who shared a few jokes with them.

The Archbishop highlighted the importance of giving children the opportunity to tell the Church how to make religion interesting for them.

"We need to empower children so they can show us what makes sense for them," he said.

In a bid to make youngsters' voice heard, The children - aged between eight and 12 - yesterday chose 24 representatives, 16 of whom will sit on the council.

"Times have changed. When I was a boy, we never dreamt that children would be asked for their input," Mgr Cremona said.

But today's cultural reality was different, with children being asked for their feedback in different sectors. And the Church needed to change according to the times, he said.

Asked what changes he would like to see in the Church, Isaac Zammit and Rachel Bugelli, both 10, pointed out that homilies tend to be too long and priests made use of language which is not child-friendly. Nine-year-old Anne Marie Bezzina said there should be more tailor-made activities for children after Mass. "There could be sport and games," she said.

Elizabeth Pisani, the Archbishop's delegate on the four-strong Children's Commission, pointed out the importance of changing Mass so that children would feel closer to the celebration.